Hard Flooring Made Easy

By Sarah Davey

For many years, carpet reigned as the favourite flooring throughout our homes. It is still the most popular choice for stairs and bedrooms, but homeowners are much more likely to opt for hard floors in ground-level rooms, although some still prefer carpet in the living room. The practicality of a hard floor makes it an obvious choice. Furthermore, as the climate heats up, hard floors help to keep the house cooler. This is a guide to the most popular options available. Sheet vinyl flooring - This has been around for years. It is sold on fixed-width rolls and you just order the length you need. Pros: Easy to fit, inexpensive, water and stain resistant, warm, vast range of colours and styles available. Cons: Doesn’t look or feel ‘real’, difficult to repair if you scratch it, colours will fade so not suitable for sunny rooms. Laminate flooring - A fibreboard base is overlaid with a photograph of the finished surface (for example woodgrain or stone) and then finished with a clear protective layer. Typically designed for each plank or tile to click together. Pros: Suitable for DIY, inexpensive, forgiving of floors that aren’t completely smooth, durable. Cons: Often not waterproof, won’t pass for the real thing, easy to damage while fitting, you may need to trim doors to allow for the extra height. Solid hardwood - The 100% natural flooring option, this is supplied as planks of wood, each one being unique. Fairly obviously you can only have a wood finish, although with different grains and stains. Pros: The most aesthetically pleasing, has a lovely feeling underfoot, can be sanded down and refinished many times so will really last, environmentally friendly. Cons: Swells in damp conditions and shrinks in dry ones, requires regular maintenance, needs an expert for installation, expensive. Engineered hardwood - Layers of inexpensive wood are glued together to form a plank base, then it’s finished with a final layer of real wood. Pros: Looks like hardwood but more resistant to heat and moisture, durable and long-lasting. Cons: It can be every bit as expensive as solid hardwood, needs a professional to fit it. LVT (luxury vinyl tiles) - One of the most popular choices for hard flooring. There are two main options: loose-lay click system, which is rigid planks similar to laminate flooring, and glue-down systems requiring specialist LVT glues. Although this doesn’t really pass for real wood, the finish is close and still aesthetically pleasing. Pros: Endless choices of style – wood, tiles, stone, concrete, waterproof, warm underfoot, very durable. Cons: The subfloor must be completely level, which may mean having a floor levelling compound installed first. Ceramic tiles - Yes, the same as you put on the walls – ceramic tiles can also be used on the floor. Pros: Withstands the heaviest household traffic, waterproof, easy to clean, a high-gloss finish available. Cons: Cold (underfloor heating can overcome this but adds to the cost), anything dropped will break easily, not a DIY install.